The treacherous, shifting landscape of the southern desert was a realm of absolute extremes. During the day, the rolling dunes were a scorching, unforgiving furnace capable of boiling a man's blood in his veins. However, the very second the sun dipped completely below the horizon, the intense heat instantly vanished, entirely replaced by a freezing, biting chill that swept across the barren plains like a physical wave of ice.
Miles away from the elevated sandstone ridge where the Emerald and Sapphire armies held the primary defensive line, the deep desert was plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.
